Banks County taxpayers spoke out Monday night against a proposed tax hike and the board of commissioners listened. The BOC agreed to go back to its budget to make more cuts in an effort to not raise the millage rate as much as had been proposed.

The Banks County Board of Commissioners will have a called meeting at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec .9, on the budget and millage rate. The meeting will be held in the board room of the new annex building.

The BOC had a called meeting set Monday night to vote on the proposed 1.75 millage rate increase but instead took no action and agreed to look for more areas to make cuts.

More than 60 concerned citizens attended the meeting Monday night with 11 people speaking out against a tax hike. More than 30 people attended an earlier public hearing on the tax issue.

The BOC had proposed increasing the millage rate by 1.75 mills to 9.9. This would be an additional $70 in taxes per $100,000 in property value. This would mean a person who owns a $300,000 home would owe an additional $210 in taxes. The tax bills will already be $173 more than last year due to the state no longer providing the Home Owner’s Tax Relief Grant.

“Personally, I’m willing to go back to the table and see if we can cut more,” commissioner Rickey Cain said. “I’m willing to go back to the drawing board and see where we can cut. I think we can find more places to cut.”

BOC chairman Milton Dalton added, “We’ll do whatever we can to get it lower than it is.”
At the public hearing Monday night, Jerry Shaw was among those speaking against the proposed tax hike.

“We’re in one of the deepest recessions that any of us have every been through,” he said. “Some people can’t afford to feed their families…There are a lot of things that can be put on hold…You are asking the taxpayers for a bailout because you have made bad decisions.”

Brenda Duckett said, “Our people don’t have the money for more taxes.”

Another man, who said he and his wife are both in their 70s and only have Social Security as income, said: “We just barely get by. I don’t know if we can come up with this or not.

Edwin Booth said, “As a retiree, you don’t have a lot of resources to go back to. A lot of people don’t have resources to reach in their pocket and pull out more money. I know it’s difficult to cut but we all have to do it.”

Gary Clark, who said he has taken a pay cut as an employee of the city of Gainesville, said, “How can we expect people to pay taxes if they can’t even afford their homes…Sales tax revenue is down because people can’t afford to spend…You are going to have to do some furloughs…You are going to have to make some cuts…Raising taxes 21 percent is not the right thing to do. People are going to lose their property.”

Wow, the question was asked last night when the next meeting on this increase would be and comm Cain advised it would be decided later. Why did the BOC wait until the next day to publish the next meeting date? Did they not want any argument about having a meeting at 4pm when most people are at work and cannot attend. WOW, how convenient of the BOC!

Note that the meeting to review the budget will be held at the courthouse annex Board Room on 12/9/09 at 4 pm and the BOC regular scheduled meeting will be same day at 6:30 pm. They may only allow questions/comments at the 4 pm meeting. I feel that some "behind the scene decision" was made so that the BOC didn't have to answer to the taxpayers.

I agree that $70,010.90 yearly being paid to Dalton is outrageous. Dalton said at the meeting on 11/30 "We'll do whatever we can to get it lower than it is". He could start by reducing his monthly pay of $5,834.24. What a rip off to the taxpayers!!

Thats right. They dont want to have to answer to any of us taxpayers, they think they are above us, esp Cain and Barefoot, hey guys look around your next, its a new day in banks co, and now with the right people we can get our county headed back in the right direction. YEA. Rogers and Turk.

to the one that wants furloughs how do you expect the BC workers to afford the nearly $682 a month medical insurance and still make a decent living or afford even to come to work. this is $8,200 that is taken out of my salary. now with the $8,200 gone out of my salary now throw in a furlough day how do you even expect the BC workers to pay there on bills.

I can sympathize with you, I myself had to pay higher insurance and take a pay cut on top of a furlough day. Now, BC BOC is wanting me to pay a 21% increase in my property taxes so that you as an employee don't have to take a day off or your boss can continue to drive around in a government vehicle at my expense. Its hard on everyone right now, BC is the only county around that has not furloughed employees also other counties have reduced employees hourly wages. Have you seen the unemployment rate lately, be thankful you still have a job!

Do you live in Banks County?
Were you at the BOC meeting about raising property taxes 21%?

Your post sounds like a personal attack on someone named "Gary", wasn't that the chief of BC?

Where have you been for the past few weeks? Oh you must be one of the BC employees that does not live in the county and the property tax increase wont effect you. This is not about employees being in good standings you "IDIOT" its about Banks County's property tax increase.

I too agree with all the post about furlough's being needed if cost cant be cut elsewhere.

The school system employees have taken a 3% pay cut. They have taken 3 furlough days for this semester with more to come for next semester. They are also paying the higher millage rate. Why shouldn't the BC workers take furlough days?

I expect you to do the same damn thing I did with 5 furlough days and no raise in 3 years, CUT BACK ON YOUR BUDGET!!! My auto insurance, health insurance, home insurance all went up, my budget went to he77 and a hand basket with $4.25 per gallon gasoline, I cut, and have cut to the bone. It hurts, but when you don't have the money as a worker, you don't walk into your bosses office and tell him "oh, by the way I'm out of money so I'm TAKING MORE!" What you do is cut, and if you don't have it, you don't spend it!!!!!

I too agree that the 4:00 time is a little off. It is amazing that the BOC sat on their "stage" and declared, "We wish this many people would come to all of our meetings." THEN at the end of the session, they all encouraged as many people to show up for the budget meeting in order to come to a compromise in the budget. If this were true, they would have scheduled a more appropriate time for this budget meeting.
There are quite a few things that can be trimmed and cut to lower this budget without an outrageous 21% property tax increase.
Most everyone that has a job has had to make concessions with their pay and/or their insurance. We all have to work together and all need to make these concessions especially for the ones that are on fixed incomes that have no other choice. These elderly people that have owned their land for generations could possibly loose everything because our BOC does not want to take concessions theirselves.

I have a suggestion that we go to a private EMS/911 firm like Clark and Oglethrop counties
and subitize them with $1,000,000.00(half of BC budget that we pay ours)and see what happens. They seem to make ends meet just fine.I have not heard any complaints sine it was done.

You may not hear about them but ask and you will see what a scam it is. Private services are out to make money and that is all. Instead of being dedicated to running calls for the county they will be out doing non-emergency transfers and returns from the hospital to home. They will take a guaranteed insured non-emergency over a 911 call they payment is not guaranteed. Also, the Athens service just jumped their subsidy to almost double after a year. That's typical. Do you want someone you have control over as a county service or someone who is more worried about who pays the most and how quick the bill gets sent? Private services typically have the employees that don't make county or city employment for whatever reasons. Think about it...

We are thinking about it, when i was in office we looked at a private service. All of what you are saying is not true. With the trouble we have had with fire-ems in this county a private service is not a bad idea. The people that have been hired dont know the county, they have gotten lost going to calls and worse they have gotten lost going to the hospital. They have let patients jump out of the back of ambulances and get killed. And for those who dont know thats tied up in court now cause we are getting sued for it. They hire a fire chief that ends up getting himself and the county sued. More homes have burnt down and more people of this county has gotten less than standard service for almost two years now and its time to fix it. So no a private service is not a bad idea for a couple of years until this can be corrected.

Let me guess your solution..... Turk comes into office and teams up with Milton to take vegence. Gets rid of the Fire and EMS service and puts the county at risk. All so he can pound his chest and say he won because he screamed the loudest and longest. We all know this is the entire reason he ran for office. Milton did not get his way bringing back the ones that pitched a temper tantrum. Now they have financed and planted another seed for themselves. If the county lets them get rid of what has been established in the last two years they will get far more than their 1.75 mil tax raise. ISO rating will drop and insurance costs will go up a lot more than $70/100k. The ISO ratio of paid:volunteer is 4:1. Therefore, even if all 12 certified volunteers who left returned; ISO rating would cause your insurance to significantly rise. Get informed before you run your trap. Maybe there is a reason you are the "OLD" commish and not still there. All the "problems" you have quoted happened long befoe 2 years ago, the law suit, been thrown out 2 times already. Your just a big spoon stirring the pot.

No private service would touch Banks County. There is not any nursing homes and no hospitals to make money off of doing standard transports. They may put one or two truck in the county ad still let one of them be out of the county doing transports. It would be a reduction in quality and number of available ambulances. Private companies are in the business of making money, not service to the county.

Those that you supported in the election must be SOOOO proud of you being their biggest supporter (NOT) There's a vendetta going on in this county and it seems that the whinny little fireman that could'nt push and shove to get thier way,but then pushed to get "their" man in office so they might have a chance to control him.MAN,you just don't get it.You are doing more harm by showing your STUPIDITY .They need to tell you to sit down and shut up!!!If you are so displeased ,then LEAVE Banks County and go somewhere else so someone else could use your expertise.Oh,by the way you said "WHEN" you were in office,WELL,that was "when" THIS is NOW.I'm PROUD of our Fire/EMS and the job they are doing!!! It's people like you are what does disservice to this county.

Old commish dont know who you are dont care who you are. You need to educate yourself before you speak. I have worked for the private ems service in a management position and now that the statements made are true. The charges will increase and you will have minimum coverage if any when you need it. Your are quickly showing who you are and your lack of knowledge in all areas of the fire/ems. Maybe why you are not in office anymore as you put it. To Dave you had to take precious 5 furlow days and no pay increase and to tax payer who had to take pay cut and furlow days and looking at a 21% tax increase. Where ever you work I am sure has enough coverage to maintain there department to do this where this county does not. It has there bare minimum to provide you the services you need now. Would you like to wait an extra 10 to 15 minutes if you thought you were dying. Thats what it will come to with furlows or a private service. To taxpayer if you would get a 21% tax increase that means your property is 300,000 plus. which would be a little over 210 dollars extra a year. You think if you was able to budget this kind of property you would be able to budget this extra to provide yourself with adequate coverage. Most certainly since the cost of living has increased but taxes in Banks County has not increased in years. Think of the what you will have to pay in increased insurance costs when the ISO rating goes up and it will end up more than the tax increase. People do your research before you speak.At least it will make it look like the Banks county citizens are a little smarter than they look now.

You think you are so smart, you need to do your homework! ISO is not just based on a 4:1 paid v/s Vol ratio. ISO uses a number of facts in their ISO calculation.

#1 Being Manpower; yes you have a point more credit is given for paid staff than volunteer, however lets go back two years ago when the majority of BC/EMS staff was volunteer. This County can not afford to replace all the volunteers that left with paid people.

#2 ISO counts training credits, under the present BC Fire/EMS training Banks Co. has paid employees that cant even pass the state core comp books. Yes, I do know a little about what is going in Banks Co. Training is more than going to Homer and talking about what kind of training we need to do. Training use to mean something "you know territory familiarization would be great training". I hear all the time on my scanner of all you professional firefighters getting lost going to calls. Keep it up guys sounds great!! Example: The other day a relative of mine had an emergency at his house, it took personnel over 15 minutes to arrive, and this residence is within one mile of the fire station and the unit responded from that station. A lot of times paid personnel have to ask for directions three and four times. Core comp books for the last two years were in question by the state and had to be checked twice for questionable signatures. For state training to count it had to be given an approval number by standards and training. EMS training does not even count for ISO, so all that EMS training that is being conducted in Homer does not count. ISO requires every paid staff to receive 240 hours of fire related training to include 6 Co. drills, 4 multi Co. drills, 3 night drills. This training is a hands on training not in the classroom discussion. In addition the state requires 120 hours of approved fire training with the total completion of the core comp. book.

#3 Equipment ISO requires: Banks Co. is almost adequate except for the equipment needed for credit on the 3 to 4 high rise motels at Banks crossing. Banks Co has an aerial that was counted for ISO but now has failed the aerial test in 2007 but was kept in service after it failed the test.

#4 Water Systems: Banks Co has a fair water system but can anyone tell me how much water each hydrant is the county flows? I have not witnessed a flow test or seen records on any hydrant flow test. I know for a fact that weed spraying does not give you points on ISO.

Be careful what you write, the public sees you.

Now that we have discussed that, these post are for the discussion of budget cuts and how we can accomplish this.

You sound like you know it all. I have a copy of the ISO and it does not say anything about all the so called rules being mandatory. only recommended because the Ga. Legislate could not mandate without enforcement. They left it up to the Insurance companies on being safe. Ref. HR1392 1996. By the way, State Farm Insurance does not honor any fire rating numbers. "Check with your agent" nor does the State of Ill. It all sounds like a group of people wanting to influence others. I just glad we have some smart people in office.

Where in my post did you see where I said it was mandatory? ISO only recommends fire depts. to abide by these recommendations to lower insurance. State Farm is not the only insurance company in the state of Georgia. Do your research, find out how much ISO ratings save taxpayers and businesses!

Looks like you know a little about ISO, very little. You got some of it correct. You on the other hand did not get the state requirements correct. It is not 120 hours that have to be maintained it is only 24 certificate hours. To explain that to you that means a state class that issues a certificate or approved hours by the state. Yes the core comp books have to be completed yearly and a live burn has to be done once a year to maintain state certification. For a volunteer no training thru the state must be maintained. That should be explanatory why the public would want paid staff over voluteers. Paid staff has to maintain levels of state training voluteers do not which in turn contributes to loss of life and property. I dont know what what your listening to or what call it is but there has been no issues of getting lost. And i dont know many natives of the couty the know where every road in the county is by name. I am sure you would not. As far as replacing the volunteers that left with paid it was not that many that left. Some that left came back and some were replace with new volunteers. So that is not an issue and has never been. You seem to be so good and know so much but must not can perform what you speak or all problems would have been handled years ago and would not be here now. So why dont you just retire step aside or better yet move.

Thank you Greg and Charles for once again tearing Banks County apart.
Forget private services that's a load of manure.
Do a national search for a qualified Fire Chief and EMS Director with no ties to Banks County.
Hand them the keys and say clean it up and reorganize it.
Leave them alone for 2 years and tell Turk, Wells , Clark, Pollard, Creasy, Taylor, Mosley,Crowder,Kitchens and ALL the rest who started this peeing match to kindly stay out of Banks County Fire/EMS. UNTIL all the cancer is removed only then can we move on.

The past few post have had nothing to do with the topic here, PROPERTY TAXES!! If you want a fire dept page to throw stones against one another, make your own!!!!! You sound like a bunch of elementary and high school kids. I am aware that there are major problems with fire/EMS but your are only making yourselves look like children here. What this county needs is a good cleaning up from top to bottom!!!!

You all need to accept the fact here: Times are hard, people are losing their jobs, and I am sorry to say this but employees of this county are no better than anyone else to have to take a day off. This economy has affected all of us, so to the employees that are making yourselves look like your 2 years old, please be thankful you still have your job. I know people that don't have there job anymore and they would be happy to take a furlough day!!!!!!

By the way: The BOC has not made a decision on making any cuts to employees yet.

Just be thankful for what you have!!!!!!

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